


another restless twilight passed me by

by whatisUPgaymers



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, Post-Episode: s02e04 Sock Opera, Spoilers - Journal 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 13:03:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20866682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatisUPgaymers/pseuds/whatisUPgaymers
Summary: i just.  i really feel like more could've been more stuff done with The Aftermath Of Being Possessed(tm)





	another restless twilight passed me by

**Author's Note:**

> title yoinked directly from good morning by go! child bc i'm obsessed

_ Nope. Nope. Not that one, either. Seriously, what’s an old fart gotta do to find some decent TV to watch in the middle of the ni- _

Stan’s train of thought screeched to a halt when he heard the quiet thumping of socks against hardwood to the left of him. He couldn’t tell who it was between the low light and his old eyes, but the silhouette passing by the doorway was definitely very small. “What’re you doing up this late, kid?”

The shadow froze and stepped into the faint glow of the television screen. It could’ve just been the weird lighting- and Stan planned to act like it was, in order to preserve his “reputation”- but Dipper looked even more tired than he did over the past couple days. “Uh… hey, Grunkle Stan.”

“Thought you said you were gonna sleep for a billion years or somethin’?”

“Yeah, I’m just… thirsty.”

“Y’know, you wouldn’t have to stumble through the dark nearly as much if you got some water from the bathroom. Trust me. Thirty years experience stumbling through the dark looking for water in this place.”

“I know, I just… I wanted to see if there was any Mabel Juice left in the fridge.” His eyes widened the moment he realized how obvious the implications of that were. “Not, y’know, more than like a sip of it, only enough to see if it  _ really _ tastes  _ that _ bad-”

“Hey, come sit over here.” He waited for Dipper to perch on one arm of the chair. “Are you trying _not_ to sleep or something?”

Avoiding Stan’s gaze, he sighed out his nose before finally responding. “Yeah.”

“Now, why the heck would you do that?” He poked a finger at the bags under Dipper’s eyes, and he was too exhausted to even flinch away from having something so close to his eyeballs. “I mean, look at this. Keep not getting enough rest, it could kill you.”

“Yeah, I- I know, but-” He clenched his fingers, gripping handfuls of old upholstery. “Remember when Gideon took the shack?  _ Right _ after you took a nap?”

“I try not to, but yeah.”

“Did you remember having any sort of weird dreams in that nap, or-”

Stan placed a hand on his shoulder. “Kid, I already know you guys ran around in my brain.”

Dipper’s eyebrows flew up. “Wait, you  _ do? _ ”

“Well, yeah. You think  _ everyone’s _ mind is such a confusing mess? Nah, I put a  _ lot _ of focus and weird self-help books into that. Helps keep anyone from just walking in and learning  _ all _ my deep dark secrets.” He nudged Dipper with his elbow. “And keep any pre-teens from walking in and getting scarred for life.”

“Grunkle Stan, you’ve already scarred me for life with just the things you said with those truth teeth in.”

“Ha! Yeah.”

Rubbing his arm, Dipper’s eyes seemed oddly fixated on his own socks. “Sooo… I guess you already know about Bill, then.”

“Course I do. But that doesn’t have anything to do with why you’re not sleeping, right?” Stan creased his eyebrows when the silence drew out a little too long. “...  _ Right? _ ”

“He, uh…” Elbows on his knees, Dipper held his face in his hands. “He tricked me.” He only took his hands off his face to wrap his arms around his torso, curling in on himself. “I mean, he might not even be able to do it again, but- he was controlling my body for most of the day, and I found some creepy threatening notes he left Mabel, and-” By this point, he was just a ball, carefully balanced on the armrest. “I’m  _ really _ scared.”

“Oh, no, kid…” Carefully, Stan wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a hug. “C’mere.”

Crumpling into the hug, Dipper sobbed into his chest. “You were right, Stan, I- I shouldn’t have started messing with these things, I should’ve just-”

“Hey, hey, no, don’t you start with that.” Cupping Dipper’s face in his hands, he wiped a tear away with his thumb. “It ain’t your fault some creepy triangle manipulated you.”

“But that wouldn’t have even happened in the first place if I just left all this paranormal stuff alone.”

“Yeah, and you wouldn’t have been able to save the day about a hundred times, either. It’s kinda hard to leave all that paranormal stuff alone around here, in case you couldn’t tell.”  _ And I wouldn’t be able to save my  _ own _ twin, either. But you  _ really _ don’t need to know that. _

“... I guess so.”

Gently rubbing Dipper’s back, Stan pondered. “So… I dunno if there’s any way to keep him out for good.”

“Me neither.”

“But, listen… if you’re gonna try not to sleep, I’d much rather you not do it alone.” He picked the remote back up and gestured with it. “You wanna see if there’s anything good on?”

Dipper smiled weakly and wiped at his eyes as he turned to face the television. “There probably isn’t.”

“Well, hey, riffing off bad TV is a whole lot easier when you’ve got company.”

“You got that right.”

* * *

In the morning rays washing over the attic, Mabel stretched her arms. Blinking sleep out of her eyes, she saw nothing out of place around her-

… Dipper.  _ Dipper _ was out of place, in that he wasn’t there. Which normally wouldn’t be too concerning, but with  _ this _ timing?

Careful not to disturb the still sleeping Waddles curled up next to her, she climbed out of bed, tiptoeing to peek in every nook and cranny that could fit or even  _ not _ fit a twelve-year-old boy inside. Still no sign of him.

She creaked the door open, leaning to peer down the staircase. “Dipper…?”

Walking down the steps, she perked up when she heard faint television sounds floating out from the living room. Oh, and snoring. Avoiding the creakier boards, she came the rest of the way down and peeked around the doorframe.

Sure enough, there they were. Stan, sat in the chair, snoring as loud as ever. Dipper, nestled into the crook of Stan’s arm, sound asleep. Mabel heaved a sigh of relief, but marveled at how anyone could sleep so peacefully  _ right _ next to so much noise.

Her eyes floated over to the screen, volume too low to make out words- if she had to guess, Stan probably turned it down after Dipper inevitably fell asleep- but playing what was clearly meant to be a reenactment of Romeo and Juliet entirely with cows. “... What the heck even is the TV around here?”


End file.
